


Dirty Little Secret

by momoju



Category: One Piece
Genre: M/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-10
Updated: 2019-06-04
Packaged: 2019-08-21 15:40:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,885
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16579364
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/momoju/pseuds/momoju
Summary: They never expected to fall in love--a young A-list celebrity and a much older Law Professor was not exactly a PR team's favorite combo. Amidst Ace's hectic schedule, rabid fangirls , and relentless paparazzi chases vs Marco's quiet college professor life, can their "Dirty Little Secret" survive?





	1. Of Different Worlds

**Author's Note:**

> I've been meaning to start a Marco x Ace series in a real-world setting because I love their differing personalities so much! Expect a lot of random One Piece characters here and there (Especially the Whitebeard Pirates).
> 
> Note: I am not a Law student, so should I present scenarios where it doesn't sound too legit, I'm open to suggestions.
> 
> Happy Reading :)!

 

            “Ace! Ace! Look here please!”

            “Over here please! Looking good Ace!”

            Portgas D. Ace smiled for the camera, decked in an all-black ensemble and leather brown shoes that his manager, Ivankov had picked out for him.

            “Mr. Portgas, follow me please.” One of the ushers had whispered to him as he led the way further into the red carpet, passing by other celebrities who were also there for the Grand Line Award for the Arts, quite possibly one of the most prestigious awards an actor can get.

            Ace had followed along, greeting some of his fellow actors and friends as they went on, which was good publicity for his friendly, outgoing image. A few of them stopped to take pictures with him, mostly the up and coming ones who wanted to share in his oversized spotlight.

            Just as he was about to reach the entrance, he felt his usher freeze on the spot as he hit her from behind, effectively stopping him in his tracks. “Hey? You alright--?”

            He could hear himself audibly gulp as he was but a few feet away from Jewelry Bonney, the girlfriend he publicly broke up with after he slept with another actress who was incidentally her friend.

            The camera’s started flashing like crazy, as this was the first time the two had faced each other since the scandal, and Ace could feel the hostility radiating from the girl who did not bother hiding her pissed off face from the press. Not wanting to start yet another scandal that the paparazzi could prey on, he approached the actress cautiously (even if the usher tried to stop him in vain), and was about to offer a friendly hug when he felt something splash full on straight to his face.

 

* * *

 

           

“THIS IS A DISASTER!” Ivankov was screeching all over the room. The purple-haired man was all set in a purple long dress with fishnet stockings, making his way gracefully to his talent, when he heard the familiar shrill of an actress about a “cheating bastard and how dare he show his face again”.

Suffice to say, he had arrived too late to stop the paparazzi from taking a video/shots/frame by frame stills of Ace being thrown wine at and being berated by Bonney.

“Chill out Ivankov.” Nami, Ace’s stylist, had been called immediately after the incident to freshen Ace up. She had seen the whole thing play out live on TV, and she couldn’t help but think that he boss/now friend had deserved it somehow. “That’ll teach you to control your hormones you idiot.”

Ace groaned. He can only imagine the number of interviews he had to do to clear up his name. “Thank you for the comfort Nami. It’s times like these when your friendship is all I need.”

The orange-haired woman rolled her eyes, continuing on to comb Ace’s hair to give it its signature wavy look. “Just tell them you were in a bad place or something. People love you too much to turn on you.”

“You will do no such thing Ace-boy!” Ivankov had stopped with his pacing around, pointing accusingly at Nami for suggesting such things. “The next thing you know they’ll report him doing drugs or rehab.” The flamboyant man scoffed, grabbing another one of his three phones to contact some more news outlets to figure out a deal. “Just get him ready and seat him inside. I will strangle the ushers for this.”

Nami and Ace gulped as they felt some red flames almost radiating from the feisty manager.

Ivankov was well-known in the industry as a no-nonsense man who expected nothing but the best. He can get what he wanted whenever he wanted to, with the amount of contact he had in hand. If he said he wanted to strangle that usher, you can bet that whoever was at fault would be as good as gone.

It took a few more minutes before Ace was finally seated, a number of actors giving him looks and murmuring with one another about the night’s event—and quite possibly tomorrow’s front page news.

Mumbling to himself as he prepared himself for the level of boredom for the next two hours, the only silver lining for the day finally came when he felt his phone vibrating, with a message that read:

_“Let’s get smoshed at Vivi’s later?”_

Looking back to see Sanji Vinsmoke a few rows behind, he gave the man a grin as the celebrity chef replied with a thumb’s up.

Just as he was about to give the show his full attention, a message son followed:

_“Bring Nami-chwan too <3!” _

He raised a middle finger subtly, hearing a slight guffaw from the back in response.

 

* * *

 

 

“Marco, you know I love you.”

The blonde man was too busy grading the essays of supposed “college students” in front of him when his best friend/brother made an entrance, effectively breaking the serene and calm feel of his office. He nodded robotically with a “Hn.” Added in effect, used to his brother’s constant blabbering.

“And dude, you know that I’m just watching out for your own good.”

Another “Hn.”. His head scrunched as he attempted to decipher this student’s work. The Einstein was explaining the most interesting crime investigation he had read about, and had chosen one about a hillbilly and his three wives. He wrote, in all seriousness: _The chick wasn’t even that hot so I kinda think the murder was off._ He loved how eloquent some of his students were.

“So dude, take this with no malice and judgment whatsoever.”Thatch was still continuing on with his soliloquy, heaving out dramatic heaves here and there.

 _I liked the case in the show CSI cause--_ Marco was starting to lose confidence in his ability to make these students think. Whatever happened to in-depth research??

“I really, sincerely think you should get laid soon Marco.”

Marco blinked, turning his head to his brother who looked so serious it was funny. “What?”

Thatch had began putting some distance between them, knowing Marco can fuck him up if he chose to. “Just saying bro. If that’s what it would take so you can have stop having a stick up your ass all the time.”

Marco could only glare in response. Yes he knew he can be stuck up at times, but not ALL the time like Thatch so put it. “What is that supposed to mean??”

Thatch knew he hit a nerve, and he had to tread slowly. “Just think Marco, you’re always here.” He made sure to gesture dramatically around the large office, paperwork strewn here and there. ‘You don’t eat right.” Again, pointing to what seemed to be an untouched box of Chinese take-out. “And…” He pointed to Marco’s chest this time, stabbing it a bit to make a point. “You’re still hung up over—“

“OKAY I GET YOUR POINT.” Marco groaned before Thatch could say her name. Even if Thatch didn’t believe him, he really was over her, but it still stung to hear about her every now and then. “Please leave my love life and…” He visibly gagged “Sex life alone and let me be in peace with these idiotic essays. I’ll date someone soon if that would make you happy”

Thatch was having none of it though. Before Marco can react, he had grabbed the man’s phone and was pressing some buttons here and there before giving it back to the man.

“What the hell did you do?” He eyed the  other man accusingly, looking through his phone to find whatever he may have altered.

“I deleted her number and your pictures.” The man grinned smugly, proud of such a feat.

“..you what?” Marco looked at him, his anger slowly rising by the minute.

Thatch, knowing this, had excused himself immediately, sprinting out the door before Marco could grab a hold of him.

“You’ll thank me one day!” He had shouted in glee as he ran through the hallway,grabbing the attention of nearby students who looked between them. Thatch knew very well that Marco would not dare make a scene to compromise his job. He had to give it to the man, he had planned this quite well, which was a big achievement in itself.

Leaning against the doorframe, Marco could only mumble to himself as his brother disappeared from view.

“That motherfucker.”

 


	2. Of Ex Loves and Lovers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ace is never out of trouble, while Izo and Thatch just wants the best for their brother.

The sun was chirping in all its glory that morning, radiating towards the earth to signal another day.

  …and the asshole had chosen Portgas D. Ace’s face, of all places, to land directly on.

 “Fuck! Get off!” The man groaned as he tried in vain to block of the sun. In his struggle, he managed to nudge someone snoring loudly beside him, who continued on with his sleep amidst Ace’s continued squirming.

 A few minutes into his struggle, he finally gave up and hoisted himself up, scanning the area if it was unfamiliar or not. He somehow felt a sense of relief when he realized it was still Vivi’s house. And from the way the bump under the blanket beside him snored, he’s pretty positive it was Paulie, another one of his cast mates.

 “Well good fuckin morning Ace.” Sanji was chipper that morning, as usual. He had sashayed into the room like no one’s business and completely opened the curtain, enveloping the room in a bright, yellow, glow; something that went unappreciated by the hungover ace..

 “What the fuck Sanji quit it.” Ace groaned as he buried himself under the comforter.

 “That’s for not taking Nami with you last night.”

 “It’s weird seeing you attempt to flirt with her.”

 “Do you think it’s not weird seeing you flirt with everything with legs?”

 “I once flirted with a chick with only one though.”

 “…Dude, go get some coffee or something you’re jokes are in another scale of inappropriate today.” Sanji had thrown him some rode lying around, after giving Ace a judgemental stare. “Wear that, Vivi’s already in the kitchen. Kick that idiot Paulie up. Law’s already up too.”

 Ace gave a salute, afterwards kicking the large bump under the blanket once before making his way to the kitchen. More for him if he didn’t wake up.

 “Good morning Ace!” Vivi was the first to greet him, as chipper as ever. Beside her, Law looked like death.

 “Were we in different parties Vivi? Cause I swear I am smashed but you look like…well, you.”

 The pale skinned girl could only laugh at Ace’s weird way of giving out compliments. “Well, you guys were too busy drinking yourself to death while I was too busy talking to someone interesting.”

 Both law and Ace looked at each other, racking their minds to find out who was at the party. “You got laid?” Ace had asked for both of them, sending Sanji’s fist flying behind their head’s.

 “How dare you talk to a woman like that you idiots!”

 Their banter was cut short when the bell sounded, each of them bracing themselves for whoever’s manager might be waiting outside. As Vivi grabbed the remote to turn on the small screen in the kitchen, it showed a impatient curly haired man who was looking at his watch every five seconds.

 “Congrats Ace, your ride is here.” Sanji sighed, their short-lived vacation from the limelight suddenly over. “Good luck with the vultures out there.”

 Ace sighed, not bothering to grab any of his stuff, just his phone which was in the fishbowl near the door. “Yeah,see you around guys.” He gave them a small wave as he walked to the door, opening it to reveal a pissed off Ivankov at the other side.

 “Well good morni—“

 A newspaper was immediately shoved towards his face, and what he read woke him up from whatever hangover or buzz left.

 

_**“Portgas D. Ace: STD Positive According to Scorn Ex-love.”** _

 

As it lowered to reveal Ivankov’s very pissed off face, Ace barely uttered a word before he was dragged back with him to the car. “Interview at 10, press conference for you movie/paparazzi fest about this shit at 12, then you have a variety show shooting from 2 until midnight—we have to get your answers ready in case they…”

Whatever Ivankov was blabbering about didn’t register to Ace anymore as he felt his head splitting in two just thinking about the amount of damage control Ivankov has in store for him.

 

 

* * *

 

 

 “Marco-san, are you alright?”

Marco Phoenix was shook out of his stupor as his student assistant Tashigi, dumped yet another pile of tests in front of him. “Oh? Sorry about that.”

The blue-haired girl stared at him for a bit, making the older man very uncomfortable. “Is there anything else you want Tashigi?”

The girl shook her head, but proceeded to talk anyway. “Ever since Thatch-san came by you’ve been staring out a lot. Is something wrong?”

It was his turn to shake his head. He really was too transparent sometimes. “Just thinking about how time is going by so fast.”

“That’s pretty deep Marco-san.”

“You’re not giving my intellect much credit kid.”

“I do. It’s just you’re not the type to use it very often.” The girl giggles before excusing herself.

Marco smirked. The kid had no filter sometimes.

The paperwork before him was overwhelming him too much, so decided to enjoy the view that his office gave of the whole campus. The green field in the middle was buzzing with activities. Some kid’s playing games here and there, while some were busy chatting or just relaxing on some makeshift blankets spread across the grass.

The familiar scene made him remember what the idiot Thatch did to his phone. Even if it pissed him off greatly, he knew Thatch meant well. Also, the idiot once again managed to steal his phone and had installed some dating application for him. He even went on his way to make Marco his own profile, using a photo that their photographer friend had taken of him during a vacation of theirs. This was Thatch’s own special way of being ‘subtle’.

Much to his annoyance, he had tried the application out, and had found out that you had to pick photos from the number of photos that would appear for you. Apparently, swiping the screen right would signal you were ‘into’ someone (something he found out after accidentally skipping a photo and spending the next half an hour trying to turn down a morally questionable woman’s advances).

Of course he didn’t find whatever Thatch wanted for him there; but he did get to meet some girls who were actually willing to ‘ _watch and chill’_ him (which he later found out was code for sex after one of his younger siblings, Haruta,spat out her food in surprise and disgust at such a topic).

Quite frankly, the only thing the app did for him was to further prove how old he was for this dating shenanigans.

Maybe he was destined to be single forever? He did choose the pursuit of knowledge as his day job so maybe this was the price? He never really did like working too hard to get someone, as he believed it must come naturally.

A knock came from the door, disturbing his depressing thoughts on singledom and his life as he knows it. “Marco-san, you have a guest.” Is usually chipper student assistant looked terrified, and he may have a clue as to why.

“Let them in.”

In an instant, Izo, a beautiful man clad in a kimono like it was the most normal thing in the world, grinned as he raised what seemed to be a transparent tray of dumplings. “Heard Thatch was an idiot and wanted to cheer you up.”

Marco laughed at the absurd reason. Thatch really had this whole getting him out of a rut thing planned out.

“Please Izo, we’ve been brother’s since forever, just cut the crap.” Marco smirked,poking around the tray for his dumpling of choice. The smell wafting through his office was heaven.

“Fine. You got me.” The man did not even bother sounding guilty. “Are you free next week?”

The dumplings were so heavenly he didn’t bother thinking about it too much. “Yeah. Why?”

Before he could swallow another dumpling, Izo had grabbed his phone (Yes, his brother’s had no concept of personal space, and punched a number before calling it in front of Marco, who could only stare in shock.

“Hey! It’s me, Izo!” A few (rather girly) greeting here and there, before Izo had cut to the chase. “Do you remember the guy I told you about? Well, save this number please and he’ll see you at the Baratie on the 26th!”

The call was ended after a few stories here and there, and Marco could only blink as Izou handed him his phone back.

“So….Free up your schedule for tomorrow since I’m taking you clothes shopping tomorrow, dear brother.”

“Wha-what?”

“You heard me. 3 PM at Sabaody!” And just like their brother Thatch, Izo had escaped even before he had the chance to give him a piece of his mind.

Closing the door behind him, he couldn’t help but begin nursing a starting headache. “I should seriously start saving up for an electric lock for this damn door.”


End file.
